Best Of 1994: By Matthew Evans (02/11/02)
1994 was a year that had good points and bad points. Good points: Hulk Hogan returning to the ring and joining WCW, the breath-taking Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 10. Bad points: King Of The Ring 94' and Survivor Series 94', two poor PPV offerings. Anyway, let's get to the awards:
Wrestler Of The Year: Bret Hart
Another superb year for Bret Hart. His feud with Owen Hart was the highlight of the year. Their exciting match at Wrestlemania would have stole the show if it wasn't for the efforts of Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels later on in the evening in the Ladder Match. However, Bret and Owen really did steal the show at Summerslam in a long and engrossing Cage Match.
Babyface Of The Year: Bret Hart
Again, he remained a draw with the fans and his ring-worke more than backed him up.
Heel Of The Year: Owen Hart
The seeds had been planted at Survivor Series, but Bret and Owen made up and fought The Quebeccers at Royal Rumble. However, Bret's knee injury caused Owen to flip and turn on his brother. Now there was no going back. They fought at Wrestlemania 10, with Owen getting the surprise victory. Owen crowed about the win, but not as much as when he won the King Of The Ring in June! Owen was the highlight of a poor show, winning the tournament and dubbing himself "The King Of Harts". Unfortunately, following a string of losses to Bret, Owen moved back down to the mid-card.
Gimmick Of The Year: The Undertaker
The Undertaker's "death" and "ascension" at Royal Rumble was truly a surreal and memorable moment that kept the character strong. His return at Summerslam to fend of his "double" was also well handled. Despite being absent for 7 months of the year, The Undertaker still made a big impact in 1994.
Match Of The Year: Razor Ramon VS Shawn Michaels
(IC Title Ladder Match, Wrestlemania 10)
After Bret and Owen Hart opened the show with an excellent wrestling match, many thought that they had witnessed the match of the night or even the match of the year. But with the aid of a ladder, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon managed to top this and steal the match of the night AND the match of the year honours. With two IC belts suspended above the ring (one was the one that Shawn walked out with, during his "difficult" period), the two wrestlers used the ladder to their advantage and left the crowd with their jaws on the floor. The finish (where Michaels got his leg and then his arm tied up in the ropes) was also well done.
Feud Of The Year: Bret Hart VS Owen Hart
Owen was finally given the chance to show the world what he was really made of with his entertaining feud with his brother Bret. Owen claimed he was living in Bret's shadow and that he never got any of the attention. He and Bret put together some breath-taking matches and overall the feud was very enjoyable.
Angle Of The Year: The Undertaker's "Death and Acension"
(Royal Rumble, January 1994)
A ridiculous, yet enjoyable angle. After Yokozuna and several heels had locked The Undertaker in a casket (during the Casket Match pitting Undertaker against Yokozuna), the lights went out and The Undertaker appeared on the screen, apparently inside the casket. He claimed he would "never rest in peace" and then his "spirit" ascended into the darkness. It got over well with the fans, and led to an Undertaker VS Undertaker match at Summerslam.
Tag-Team Of The Year: The Headshrinkers
A decent combo who had good matches throughout the year. Unfortunately, they dropped the tag titles to Diesel and Shawn Michaels the night before Summerslam, which deemed their match with Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS pretty worthless. And by the end of the year, they had split altogether (Barbarian replaced Samu under his new name, Sika, but the team flopped and soon disbanded).
Card Of The Year: Wrestlemania 10
A superb card, apart from a worthless dud between Earthquake and Adam Bomb, Wrestlemania 10 delivered entertainment all the way, especially in the opening match and the Ladder Match. Another great outing was the Falls Count Anyway Match between Randy Savage and Crush. That one had a really creative finish.
Worst Wrestler Of The Year: Rowdy Roddy Piper
I believe he only wrestled once (at King Of The Ring), but for many people that was enough. His match with Jerry Lawler was dire and had lame storyline build-up. The sad part is, Piper was past it in 94' and he was still wrestling up to 1999 in WCW.
Worst Card Of The Year: King Of The Ring
(June 1994)
Vince Mcmahon needed neck surgery, so a commentary role for him at KOTR was out of the question. Instead, Vince brought in Art Donavon from the NFL. It was a big mistake. Art didn't know the first thing about wrestling and was awful. He made comments like, "This is great acting" and "Who's the guy with the american flag?" (after Gorilla Monsoon had said the name "Lex Luger" over and over). The in-ring action was nothing special, either. Apart from the WWF title match, and Owen Hart's KOTR matches and acceptance speech, the show was a huge let-down. Incidentally, it was a double kick-in-the-teeth for the WWF as WCW's Bash At The Beach (featuring Hulk Hogan VS Ric Flair) got more buy-rates.
Commentator Of The Year: Jerry "The King" Lawler
Bobby Heenan left the WWF for WCW, which meant that the days of comic one-liners were over for many fans (WCW Worldwide was on ITV, but Heenan didn't commentate on the show, and later in the year ITV axed it altogether). His replacement, Jerry Lawler wasn't quite as good, but he still played the role well and had a few funny remarks throughout the year.
Promotion Of The Year: WWF
(World Wrestling Federation)
Overall, a great year for the WWF. Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and Summerslam were all very good shows. WCW was picking up steam, especially with the aquisition of Hulk Hogan. But on the whole, the WWF were the better company. Coming soon: The year Eric Bischoff became the laughing stock of the wrestling business by announcing that he would go head-to-head with the WWF on Monday Nights, and the year Vince Mcmahon blasted the ECW style, despite the fact that his WWF was becoming dated and sometimes uninteresting. 1995, an historical year in wrestling history.